In order to follow-up a linkage finding on chromosome 11p15.5 to alcohol dependence, two short tandem-repeat marker panels for semi-automated fluorescent genotyping containing 15 loci distributed over the distal 20 cM of chromosome 11p15.5 have been created. One panel (six loci) has been typed in approximately 500 psychiatrically-interviewed individuals from a Southwest American Indian tribe. A second panel (nine loci) has been optimized and typing will begin soon. In addition, two coding polymorphisms and one promoter polymorphism at DRD4, a candidate gene for involvement in vulnerability to alcohol dependence, have been typed in order to develop haplotypes at this locus, distal to the short-tandem repeat locus linked in the whole genome linkage scan. Linkage using haplotypes constructed from these markers has confirmed the primary linkage finding in a second panel of Southwest American Indian sib pairs, indicating that a locus contributing to alcohol dependence is in the 11p15.5 region.